Checks and Balances: How you spend money makes world of difference

As much as people clamor about saving money and the art of deprivation, that isn’t truly what makes up or comprises being able to put money aside for that proverbial rainy day. You have to learn how to spend money correctly, and being able to do that is what is going to be the difference between money in your pocket and yet another month with nothing to show for it in your savings account. When you talk about saving money, you have to ask yourself by what means are you doing so. Think about how often you use your own money as opposed to credit cards and checks. The old adage of credit cards being used for only emergencies is true to some extend, but looking closer at it, you should avoid credit cards all together. Those who are smart with money and save the way they’re supposed to argue that they never use credit cards, not even for large scale expenses but rather draw from their own savings account and let the plastic stay on the shelf. Good money managers use cash, debit cards or write checks, and they don’t have the urge to use their credit cards, even when a lender or department store, for instance, want them to do otherwise. Introductory savings offers with department stores that want you to open a card and save 20 percent only work if your goal is to pay it off the next month, within 30 days. When you use your debit card, checks or cash, you force yourself to really think about the purchase in a way that you might not believe. Swiping a credit card is way too easy; you tend to lean toward impulse buys and don’t actually think through what you’re spending your money on at that very moment. The debit or cash, check included, might make you rethink the buy, especially when you consider that a $400 patio sofa for example might not sound so comfortable if you don’t have to pay for it today versus stretching the payments out over months at a time. That’s not to suggest that a credit card with an 18 months, no interest deal isn’t important or can’t be beneficial, but you have to start thinking more cognitively about spending your own money. When you begin spending your own money, you realize two things: you either have the money to spend or you need to rethink how you’re spending and just how it is affected for ability to save.